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F1 has BMW leaving at the end of this year, and it is rumoured that Toyota and Renault may follow suit, less than a year after Honda pulled the plug on its F1 team (which Ross Brawn has since resurrected into the world championship leader).

However, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher is returning to F1 racing to fill the Ferrari seat of the injured Felipe Massa.

There is some doubt in the industry about the health and age of Schumacher now at 40 years old. Bernie Ecclestone, the man who still pulls almost all the strings in F1, had told The Times: “That guy (Schumacher) was super-fit when he was driving, and to get as fit as that again and be prepared to get back in a car without any testing would be asking too much.”

BMW’s withdrawal will leave F1 with just four manufacturers – Ferrari (owned by Fiat), Mercedes-Benz (in partnership with McLaren), Renault and Toyota. Only two, obviously, if Renault and Toyota exit too.

BMW’s board made the withdrawal decision early this week, barely a couple of weeks after the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) committed (verbally, if not down to the smallest of fine print) to remain in the sport until at least 2012. The past couple of years BMW had become a serious third force in the sport, challenging the traditional dominance of Ferrari and McLaren, but this season – the year it was widely expected may have seen it even become No.1, especially as it was seen as the frontrunner in the development of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) – has been a disaster. From 10 GPs so far this year BMW has scored just eight world championship points. So speculation remains as to the real reason behind the pull out.

FIA president Mosley and commercial tsar Ecclestone’s previous statements are a reminder of what that pair have long, quite rightly, said: that car manufacturers will come and go in F1 as it suits them, and for that reason alone the manufacturers should not be in control of the sport, as they have tried so hard to be in recent times.